Video: Kilmeade gets testy with Obama spokesman over Jopek bracelet

posted at 11:45 am on September 29, 2008 by Allahpundit

A shouting match for breakfast. Ed’s already hashed and rehashed this story so you should be up to speed. Pay attention to Doocy at around 1:20 suggesting that Tracy Jopek asked Obama not to wear the bracelet, which as far as I know is untrue: She asked him not to talk about it, but then absolved him for doing so at the debate because McCain brought up the subject first. It’s Doocy’s misstep that leads Gibbs to claim they’re “making stuff up,” I think, which annoys Kilmeade when he tries to make the (accurate) point about Jopek’s father objecting to the whole situation.

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This kind of stuff just accelerates Fox’s freight train to the sewer. It was bad enough when they ditched news for populist blowhards, 23-hour celebrity coverage and Shepard Smith talking like a pothead. Now Fox and Friends is giving them more problems that they don’t need. Yeah, let’s invite on the loser from Everybody Loves Raymond. Good lord.

This kind of stuff just accelerates Fox’s freight train to the sewer. It was bad enough when they ditched news for populist blowhards, 23-hour celebrity coverage and Shepard Smith talking like a pothead. Now Fox and Friends is giving them more problems that they don’t need. Yeah, let’s invite on the loser from Everybody Loves Raymond. Good lord.

So, umm, the flak’s explanation is: Jopek’s mother gave Obama the bracelet but she didn’t want her son’s death to be politicized, so Obama does just that in the first debate? And, in a cheesy “me too, what’s his name” gesture at that. Ugh.

I happened to be watching when this occured earlier this morning. Frankly I rather enjoyed Brian calling the ‘One’s” spokesman out as he twisted/turned/spun this to try to make an advantage of it. I suppose the MO prosecuters will be filing charges against Kilmeade any hour now.

Again, I hate to take the side of Obama on this because I know I’m going to be called ‘liberal moron’ for calling to question a point.

Obama was told to wear the bracelet. He was wearing the bracelet. Obama was told not to politicize the bracelet – where McCain has no trouble politicizing his (surrogate to make his point).

I’d bet the hesitation on Obama’s part on the stage was whether or not he SHOULD bring it up because of the mother’s wishes instead of whether or not he could remember the name. He was responding to McCain’s politicizing of his bracelet, not injecting it into the political debate.

Again, I don’t support Obama, but this is stretching to come up with something irrelevant. The relevant part to me is that McCain has NO PROBLEM using dead soldiers to support his claims.

The only important point in all this is that the mother asked Obama NOT to talk about her son and he DID IT ANYWAY. She may have changed her mind AFTER the fact, but the only information Obama had to go off of was her initial request. Obama willingly violated the expressed wishes of the dead soldier’s family! Period!

The point is, it was a b**ch move for this guy to be such a d**k and play semantics over Doocy’s words. The larger point stands – The mother asked him not to talk about her son and he did, and now she’s only okay with it because it would be a huge blow to Barry’s campaign if she stuck to her guns.

Here the F&F gang follows up at the beginning of the After the Show Show, which you may want to add to AP (I’m assuming you know, but click “Share” to get the embed code)

Brian Kilmeade is a true gentleman, old-school style.
His defense of Debra Burlingame when Tofel was so arrogant, patronizing and rude to her during a 9/11 interview was extremely chivalrous.
He does not suffer fools gladly and showed it this morning.

Agreed. My gut feeling is that Obama didn’t think to himself, “Well, I know I promised, but I am, after all, responding to my opponent who brought it up first. So in effect, I am still honoring the spirit of the agreement.”

When is Fox and the handful of others who are sick and tired of this BS going to take off the gloves and start reporting?

This was a good start, but it’s an isolated and insignificant issue. With all due respect to the memory of a soldier who fell in service to this country and regardless of his parents clearly disjointed view of reality and willingness to betray their own principles for political gain; I am sick and tired of the “you’re making stuff up” defense to every legitimate and documented question about Obama’s countless and inexcusable positions and gaffes.

If the MSM and our elected officials will not hold Obama or the Democrats accountable for their actions, it is time for WE THE PEOPLE to do so.

The relevant part to me is that McCain has NO PROBLEM using dead soldiers to support his claims.

ThackerAgency on September 29, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Thacker.. did you NOT see the ad where an older MN Couple whose son died in a Helicopter crash was supporting Obama and the “Run out of Iraq” tactic?

I even posted from the DoD website on who else was on that crash. It makes me wonder who is doing what fo whome. McCain for dead, wounded and alive soldiers. Or BHO, who puts disgruntled and greiving parents of Soldiers blaming everything on a war that the Dems voted for as well.

What do these people do to prepare for their show? I was SCREAMING at the TV! She told Oslime-a NOT to mention her sons name EVER! It takes approximately 30 seconds of reading the facts to be able to speak EXPERTLY on it.

I’ve always noticed that in general, FOX News is fair, but the morning show is decidedly right-wing. But it’s the morning show…so no one should take any morning show too seriously. Doocey is a weatherman, and Kilmeade did sports. They aren’t anchors.

The relevant part to me is that McCain has NO PROBLEM using dead soldiers to support his claims.

ThackerAgency on September 29, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Did the family tell McCain not to mention their son? Not to my knowledge. Many families who have lost want their relatives to be mentioned. My friend Kyle Griffin died when we were in Iraq and his father came out with the purpose of being an anti-Cindy Sheehan (although surprise, surprise he didn’t get the same sort of coverage she got). The only issue is the lack of morals Obama displayed when he violated the wishes of the soldier’s family. Using a dead soldier to make a political point is not the issue.

Mary Jopek? Tracy Jopek? What is the mother’s name? Someone is confused and has it wrong.

And if it is Mary (as Gibbs states in the video), that is awfully close to “Mary Jo Kopechne”, no?

Abby Adams on September 29, 2008 at 12:02 PM

As I stated above, Robert Gibb bitching about the semantics, while ignoring the actual point was stupid… But he did call her Mary at one point, which is just as inaccurate as any complaint he had. So he was the one “making things up”.

But seriously, I thought somewhat along the same lines when I heard him say that… you know Mary Jo Kopechne was what went through his mind when he said that, and that’s why it slipped out that way.

At any rate, screw you Robert Gibb… I’d rather watch the Barry Gibb Talk Show anyway:

Tacky Obumbles Obama couldn’t remember the soldier’s name, but as a lawyer made certain to invoke the mother. She is a Cindy Sheehan tool on Obama’s wrist; it was all about the mother, not the son. “I don’t want another mother to go through what I did.” The bracelet spins its own tale and Smeagol Obama must have his precious, his preciousssssss. Obama’s hacks disrespect the soldier and the soldier’s family just for the “right” to exploit a bracelet and a mother. THE OBAMA NEGATE.

I watched the clip from the debate again and the pause comes well after he said “Let me make a point. I’ve got a bracelet too. From Sergeant….” that’s where the pause is. There didn’t seem to be a hesitation to bring up his bracelet. Unless I misunderstood what you meant and you were saying he may have hesitated to bring up the soldiers name. If that’s the case, I do believe there is an argument to be made there – though, my take is that the pause was that he was correcting himself from saying “From Sergeant…” to saying “From the mother of Sergeant…”

davenp35 on September 29, 2008 at 12:00 PM

That’s my thought as well. He may have received approval from her afterwards, but, what she requested of him prior to the debate does seem to have been violated by him bringing it up in a televised, national debate. He’s lucky in that it didn’t bother her. Or, if it did bother her that he politicized the bracelet, at least it didn’t bother her enough to risk hurting his campaign.

For starters, BO showed no class when he used that bracelet for his own political gain against the mother’s original wishes. Doesn’t matter what she said after the fact. He’ll always put his interests and himself first.
I really don’t care who gave Barry the bracelet. That young man has a mother and a father. I don’t care if the mother supports Barry and is happy to have Barry use her son’s name and memory as a political prop. His father doesn’t want his son used that way. That should be respected. And frankly, nobody knows how this young man would feel about it. I certainly don’t hold the same political views as my egg donor. I would be haunting her sorry butt if she was using my memory as political gain for some Marxist jerk. This kind of political grandstanding needs to stop.

I noticed that everyone seemed to discount the father’s wishes. when it was pointed out that the father did not want his son’s name mentioned, the Obamanaut said “well I am not going to get involved in a divorce” and went right back to the mother’s alleged wishes.

I noticed that everyone seemed to discount the father’s wishes. when it was pointed out that the father did not want his son’s name mentioned, the Obamanaut said “well I am not going to get involved in a divorce” and went right back to the mother’s alleged wishes.

Geez, looks like Barry’s condescending arrogance has trickled down to his surrogates.

Great to see Bryan “get in his face”.

You really do have to be a radical leftist tool to support this dork. The thought of dealing with this empty suit and his band of brain dead thugs for the next 4 years. Throw Biden into the mix and you want to puke.

I’d bet the hesitation on Obama’s part on the stage was whether or not he SHOULD bring it up because of the mother’s wishes instead of whether or not he could remember the name. ***
ThackerAgency on September 29, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Negative on that, Thacker. Footage shows Obama retracting his cuff on the arm with the bracelet on it, then Obama looking down and manipulating something on that wrist, and THEN saying the soldier’s name. That behavior is more consistent with him confirming the name before he said it than it is a hesitation about keeping the mother’s wish about not politicizing her son.

Come now. John McCain tried to score political points (and I’m not knocking him for it – it is a debate after all) by bringing up the bracelet. In that moment, Barack Obama could have either done one of two things:

1) Try to recall the instructions the mother who gave him the bracelet left him with, and reconcile that with the comments her ex-husband (and the soldier’s father) gave to a newspaper in March;

or

2) Try to neutralize McCain’s point by realizing that he was given a bracelet on the campaign trail too.

FWIW….I thought that the pair of them demonstrated a lack of class in using dead soldiers as cheap props.

LimeyGeek on September 29, 2008 at 12:31 PM

Had I died in Iraq I would hope to hell my family and everyone I know would use my name to push for us staying in Iraq until our mission is complete. I also hardly consider it a waste of time for people to defend the wishes of dead soldier’s and their family.

Obama could have slaughtered McCain if he had simply responded : “I have a bracelet too. I have no idea if the soldier would have voted for me, but I’m not going to abuse his memory by presuming to use his story as a cheap prop”

I say Kudos to Brian. Someone somewhere please stand up for yourself. I can’t watch the video because I am work and I don’t ascribe to any bad intentions to Sen. Obama’s use of the solider’s name. But I am a little sick of people standing by while that campaign attaches any number of slurs (liar, racist, mentally challenged)to people who don’t give full throated support to Sen. Obama. And guess what, regardless how “fair” the folks on Fox are or aren’t they will always be treated like a second class organization, so stand up for your beliefs. I don’t notice anybody on this site holding back went they disagree and I wouldn’t want them to.

Oh and another thing, I remember my husband’s reaction to the fall of Siagon and the soliders that apparently died for nothing in Vietnam. I know that the feelings aren’t uniform but some soliders felt betrayed. For the most part they don’t like to lose.

It’s a hop, skip & jump from here to ‘Sheehan Territory’ when we presume to use the departed as political leverage.

LimeyGeek on September 29, 2008 at 12:38 PM

It goes both ways. What evidence do you have that the soldier and/or family didn’t want McCain using their story? My guess is the do want McCain using their story…in fact I think he prefaced his coments with something to this effect. Obama on the other hand had been asked NOT to use the story of their son and did so anyway. Why would you assume that any use of a dead soldier’s story is automaticlly some sort of abuse or “cheap prop”?

The bottom line here is that she asked Obama not to mention her son in speeches or debates and he did anyway. It’s a moot point whether she happens to be OK with it after the fact. She’s a committed Democrat and “political junkie”, so she knows how bad this could look for BO. It’s telling that she wouldn’t say whether she wants Barry to actually stop using her son’s name now that she knows he’s just ignoring her request.

Just saw “30 Days of Night” yesterday and thought of you….even though I have no idea who you are! :)

LimeyGeek on September 29, 2008 at 12:21 PM

LMFAO! Should I be worried? Naaaaa. Though I do wonder why you thought about me HA! I live in Anchorage, about 1200 miles south of the fake (did you see breath at -40?) and yet mildly rejectable Barrow area.

Unfortunately there are still blood sucking rejects far and wide… even in Barrow.

Lord I could only wish to see him in the studio with Brian, let him pull out some moves he learned back in the day when he was an announcer for the UFC.

Gibbs is such a self rightious jerk, he came on with the attack Fox News mind set and looked like a toold for doing so. Brian atleast called him out, you need guys on these news shows who aren’t gonna let the campaigns spin lies, other stations take the few McCain people to task for everything, Fox News needs to start pointing out when these people come on and straight lie.

This woman asked Barack not to use her sons name because she thought it disrepected families who believed in the war, a noble way to say “My Son believed in this war even though I didn’t” Barack in turn disrespected her wishes and all the families she mentioned. Too bad in the last 6 months she too has downed a little too much Obam-aid and is now spinning her own thoughts.

Look, I don’t think that Obama knew that the mother didn’t want her son mentioned. The campaign maybe, but not Obama. I’ll give him that.

The point that I see is that now we know the father certainly does not want his son’s name used or the bracelet worn, I think Obama should take it off. I’m sure he can find parents of a fallen soldier that both agree that Obama should wear it.

Imagine this for yourself. Imagine that your ex-wife gave Obama this bracelet with your son’s name on it. It was wrong of her to do such a thing without her ex-husband’s permission. Just wrong. This was his father. She knew he disagreed with Obama.

Now it’s embarrassing for everyone and I just feel sorry for the family.

The blame begins and pretty much ends with the mom. You don’t ask Barack Obama, presidential candidate, to wear a bracelet with your dead son’s name on it, and then complain about his politicizing it when he mentions it in public; just like you don’t go to work in a low-cut blouse and high-cut skirt, and complain when Jenkins from accounting stares at your cleavage. At that point, whatever further instructions the mom gave Obama are of little relevance.

Strange of me to have one, but I think I can come up with a bipartisan compromise on the topic. Bracelets are fine for little girls but grown men shouldn’t be wearing them unless it is to give the emergency room specific information on them. Ever since this stupid bracelet fad came out that cyclist who doped his way to all those Tour De Frances made his way on my s-list.

What’s that pin on the guy’s lapel? It looks like the one Obama had on at the debate, but I couldn’t make it out clearly in either case. It doesn’t appear to be the flag of the USA, though it seems to incorporate the US flag as the left half. I see a round blob or circular marking in the right half on a ligher background. Rising Sun? UN globe? Hammer and Sickle?

To me, it is just sad that politicians need to use dead soldiers at all. But McCain did bring it up.

ThackerAgency on September 29, 2008 at 12:02 PM

I think the difference is that when the mother gave her son’s bracelet to John McCain, she asked him to do everything he could to make sure her son didn’t die in vain.

I believe and it seems that others do as well, that it is important to elect John McCain in order to finish the job in Iraq and not come home too soon.

So, I don’t see what John did as crass politicization, but an attempt to impress upon the audience how seriously John feels about this conflict and the young men and women who have died. He could have been one of those lost in war, but he survived and he knows the ramifications of leaving too soon.

Sen. Obama on the other hand used the young man’s bracelet as a cheap political one-up-man-ship and didn’t even know the name on the bracelet.

The mother has said she’s okay with Obama talking about her son and the bracelet, which settles that issue. For the mother.

Apparently, the father felt differently, so Obama was wrong to refer to it. But I could overlook that, since it could be an innocent mistake.

On the other hand, this “making stuff up” claim by the Obama campaign is nothing but a lie. Gibbs tries to have it both ways, claiming she didn’t want her son’s death politicized, but it’s “making stuff up” to say that she didn’t want Obama to mention her son during a very political debate. Which, of course, is politicizing her son’s death.

It wasn’t just spin, it was bold, slimy, audacious spin that insults the hearer’s intelligence. No one should have let him get away with it.